Business and labor groups said Thursday that the state is taking too long to implement rules that will allow hydraulic fracturing in Illinois.

As a result, said the consortium called GROW-IL, companies are beginning to look elsewhere to begin fracking operations, leaving the state at risk of losing jobs and tax revenue.

“If Illinois doesn’t get its act together, companies are going to decide to invest elsewhere, and we’re going to miss the boat,” said Dan Eichholz, associate director of the Illinois Petroleum Council.

The General Assembly passed legislation more than a year ago that was meant to pave the way for hydraulic fracturing — the process of injecting high-pressure water and chemicals underground to extract oil and natural gas. Supporters of fracking lauded the new law for containing the toughest environmental regulations in the country for the industry.

However, additional rules had to be drafted by the Department of Natural Resources before fracking operations could begin. Those rules haven’t been completed, and fracking supporters said it is taking too long.

“As of Tuesday, it will be 400 days, and we’ve yet to see a final set of rules,” said Mark Denzler of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “Four hundred days for rule-making and we’re still waiting is an extraordinary length of time.”

Denzler compared the situation with fracking to medical marijuana. The medical marijuana bill was signed into law after hydraulic fracturing, yet the rules to put marijuana use in place have been completed, while there is no end in sight for the fracking rules.

DNR spokesman Tim Schweizer said the agency is revising its initial draft of the fracking rules.

“We’re making significant progress,” he said. “The revised rules will be submitted so they can be enacted on schedule this fall. I think the statute says it all has to be done by Nov. 15.”

Schweizer said the department “is working very hard to review all of the public comments we received on the first draft.”

“Those are important in considering what revisions need to be made,” he said.

The department received some 35,000 comments about the proposed rules. Denzler said GROW-IL is working on a review of those comments that will be released shortly. He said he believes the review will show that a relatively small number of people were responsible for submitting multiple comments.

“I think you will find and be amazed at the lack of the number of people that submitted comments,” he said.

GROW-IL contends that shale formations in the southern part of the state could produce $9.5 billion in economic impact and produce up to 47,000 jobs annually.

“In southern Illinois, we have a high level of unemployment,” said Michael Carrigan, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO. “We have a skilled workforce down there ready to go to work. It’s hard to explain to them the bill passed in June of 2013 and 13 months later we’re still dealing with the implementation of rules and regulations.”